ericdwong

...that sounds like crap. For you audiophiles this was my setup. Electro-Voice N/D 157 dynamic microphone, to Spirit Folio F1 mixer via balanced cable, to Sony MDS-JE510 minidisc recorder. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ewong6...c/DSCF0003.JPG shows the setup. Transferred to computer via optical to digital converter directly to SPDIF in on Soundblaster Live sound card, recorded 44.1Khz, 16 bit mono .wav file. No tone controls, processing, compression etc.

Anyway http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ewong61/exhaust.wav

Its got a very wide dynamic range so you can barely hear the car idling cause I didnt want to compress it. If you have a good audio system hooked to your computer you can probably hear the idle. You can hear the tinny metallic rattling sound that I have been trying to bust from http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....readid=147186. It sounds like crap.

EDIT: My exhaust consists of this- stock manifolds to Cattman Y pipe with "new" flex section to stock Cat (NOT gutted!) to Stillen B, to STOCK muffler to 4" tip.

Keven97SE

Sounds like either a gas-powered weed eater, or at toughest maybe a 150cc 2-cycle dirt bike.

Sounds like crap, dood.

Trash that piece o' crap exhaust and put back on the stocker. All the smart kids are doing it

Let me ask ya this, though: Why do you continue to modify and beat the crap out of the car when the results are not positive. I mean, you put on an exhaust that you hate and do crazy burnouts then complain about the tranny being f'ed up. If you were a smart man, you'd admit that what you're doing is stupid and stop doing it rather than continuing to hang your dirty laundry for all to see. Not trying to bash you, just handing out some constructive criticism. You'll find that the problems are not with the car, or Nissan, or others, but with the decisions you've chosen to make. You made the **** sandwich...now eat up, brutha!

...Not that I haven't made plenty of blunders myself or anything...

ericdwong

Yeah, umm the exhaust is mostly stock minus the Y and B pipe. Its got the stock manifolds, muffler and cat, so it shouldnt make this noise. I tied a rope to the throttle body and got under the car and gave a tug to rev the engine. The sound is DEFINATELY coming from the muffler. Louie (slc30t) says his car sounds the same as mine and he has a setup very similar, and he even tried a new Maxima muffler on his. If you look on the other thread, Iansw also has the same problem.

So loose the flaming attitude and if you cant help me say nothing.

SamMan23

Flamers suck a*s. There's way too many around here. I hope you get your exhaust sounding better. When you do, let us know what you did to fix it. When did the exhaust start sounding bad? Was it after the b-pipe or the y-pipe or did you do it at the same time? Maybe there are some other people who have the same or similar setup that don't have the problem. Was the b-pipe worth it? I hear from some people that it helped low end power.

ericdwong

Ok I should add that the tinny metallic noises started when the Y pipe goes on. It sounds fine with the OEM Y pipe in place, but seeing as its the #1 power freer upper for a NA max I cant get rid of it. I had a similar problem with my old Toyota Camry, when I put a header on it it also sounded like crap. When I put the stock manifold back on it was OK.

Of course the solution would be to get ridda the Y pipe, but let me ask this- why do Camaro's, Mustangs, even Civics have headers and straight pipes and never have this this tinny sound?

ericdwong

Hmmm........maybe it IS the Y pipe? After all- it started when I put the Y pipe back on AND I found these threads:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?threadid=84359

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?threadid=86013

But I dont get it- my Y pipe should be good as new, seeing as its got one of the new high quality flex sections....

BigDogJonx

iTrader: (7)

Alright, dont mean to sound harsh, but im a pro audio guru, owned over 100k in equipment.

The EV mic you have is crap. Problem is that in order to pick up an exhaust sound like this, you need a studio style unidirectional mic. I know the EV says it is, but its still not the same. Just like if you had a Shure SM58, it wont be the same, if anything I would try to pick it up with a SM57 sure which is more aimed towards picking up sweet spots, and keep it about 1ft away and make sure it dont clip.

Dixit

ericdwong

Good lord I'm getting no help. As you probably know most the guys here arent audiophile, but this mic sure works a heck alot better then taking laptop computer's internal mic like most people do. Oh yea, this was my leftover DJ equipment so its not studio stuff nor was it meant to be, I've sold most of it since I went to college, and considering I havent touched any of this stuff for over 3 years shows how much use I get out of it. Oh yea, and like a higher quality mic is gonna make my exhaust sound any better... can't I get any help??

sbslacker

iTrader: (1)

For awhile I had this setup...Cattman y-pipe/RT cat/Stillen B/stock muffler. I can't see the cat (unless yours is busted somehow) making much if any difference in noise, but I can tell you that my exhaust then sounded different than what you have now. I don't know whether being CA or Fed spec would make a difference here, but your car sounds like...umm...well, not good. I know what you mean by 'tin like' sounds coming from the y-pipe, and that is normal to some extent. You seem to have an extreme version of this.

Are you sure there aren't any leaks/breaks/holes of any sort in your exhaust piping or muffler? Is it possible to swap out your muffler with another stock muffler to see if it changes anything? I remember when my y-pipe came loose a bit at one of the manifolds, the sound changed to something more of what you have.

iansw

iTrader: (7)

Whoa!

Mine sounds nothing like that.

Maybe a bad Cat?!?!?

Mine just sounds like there's a small screw stuck in the engine bay that only rattles at very high RPM. It's barely audible inside the car, and even under the hood.

A little louder under the car, but I only hear it really when I'm someplace that reflects sound, like a Drive-Through at McDonalds or driving past a concrete median.

I wish I could help you more, but I have an aftermarket Y and B-pipe too, and it just doesn't sound like that.

Of course, the SC changes the tone somewhat.

IanS

Lime

oh man, Eric, that sounds nasty. Not helpful, sorry. You have the Cattman Y with a fixed flex, right? Hmmm, it sounds like there is something vibrating/rattling from being loose...you've checked both ends of the new flex for motion/looseness? All ends of the Y connections?

I haven't heard a Y with a broken flex, but perhaps the repair didn't work? There's nothing IN the pipe is there??

My WSP doesn't sound like that at all...damn.

hokiemax

iTrader: (2)

ok Eric, I know I won't be too much of a help, but let me still give you my input. I've had my share of ypipe and exhaust experiments. Between me and my brother, I've had stillen, budget, and cattman ypipes. And yeah we went through the busted flex too. Its fixed now.

anyways, I dont think a rattling sound coming from the ypipe is normal. I've never heard that coming from my ypipes...unless I'm deaf or something. What i'm trying to say is that it might be possible for the ypipe to make a rattling sound because of a leak somewhere or whatever, but it's not like "oh the rattling sound is inevitable due to the inherent design characteristics of aftermarket ypipes." See what i'm saying? Its still morning and sorry I can't elaborate better. I need more coffee.

How many miles do you have on your stock muffler? And are the ring seals in all of the gaskets properly seated? Do you think maybe a neighborhood squirrel dropped a nut inside of your muffler? (i'm serous.)

If we were closer, I'd let you borrow any of my exhaust pieces to try to isolate the problem. But thats still lot of grunt work.

And kevin97SE, what eric does to his car is what most of us all do. Its not like he's stupid and causing his car to go bad. Maxima is a sports sedan, Nissan's flagship. It's supposed to endure a moderate, reasonable abuse,(for the lack of better word). If you're gonna drive like a 90 year old granny, you dont need a maxima.

Whitemax

Try taking the muffler off to see if the sound looses the tinniness and gets deeper or if it for the most part stays the same. I would alwso consider replacing all of the hangers under the car, should be less that $20 to do, and make sure the heat shield isnt touching the cat. That would be my first suggestions....

Dave B

Sounds like a bad baffle in the muffler possibly. Have you checked for exhaust leaks (especially at the cat flange and muffler flange)? Was this recording made after the exhaust was completely cold. My exhaust doesn't sound particularily good when it's cold, but it sounds nothing like yours though. The flex sections, regardless of type, will resonate a bit when cold.

I recommend getting resonated exhaust tip. It really does make a difference. My setup is WSP y-pipe, RT cat, Stillen B-pipe, stock muffler, and resonated tip.


Dave

SamMan23

If it's possible it might be a good idea to take off the y-pipe and inspect it. Otherwise, making sure the bolts are tight and maybe some header wrap around the flex section might be a good start at trying to fix it. I know lots of exhaust places could replace flex sections. You could even bring in the flex section from original y-pipe. I personally keep my original y-pipe together in case of a rainy day.

costcowholesale

iTrader: (12)

its the flex I think, that sounds like bees in the can noise I heard in a maxima with budget ypipe as the only mod. Maybe Cattman didn't put the new flex section on tight/properly?

95maximase

the car sounds like a goped scooter i see all the kids riding around on the street., but I'LL SHOW YOU SOME LOVE. Thanks for taking the time and effort to get this up on the forum I know this stuff takes a long time to do and I don't think anyone in the past year and a half I've been on this board has put up any sound files of their exhausts. You could have made the file longer a reved it somemore for us. Also everyone should keep in mind that the car probably sounds a little different when the engine is under a load ie when you're driving. take it easy

breaux124

iTrader: (1)

I think it's the muffler. Or what about the tip you added to the muffler? Some types of tips make a resonator sound. I've seen some civics with just tips that changes the sound of the exhaust.

Also, one reason that the noise could be added after the Ypipe is because of the increase air flow, not a faulty Y-pipe. I mean if you put a greddy with a stock Y-pipe it sounds different then a greddy with an aftermarket Y-pipe. Just because the stock Y-pipe doesn't make the noise, doesn't completely put the blame on the Aftermarket Y-pipe.

96sleeper

iTrader: (4)

mine used to sound like that when I had my stock muffler, especially in the morning when the car was cold. I think that every max with a y-pipe has that tinny sound to it, some mufflers just cover it up better that others. A maxima needs a big muffler, or a muffler and a resonator. I used a dynomax bullet muffler as a resonator and it works very well.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

1) Find out exactly WHERE the noise is coming from. From the flex or muffler?? These are two very different places in the exhaust system and it should be very easy to tell where the noise coming from

2) If it's a leak at a flange or at a flex joint, you should be able to see black soot coming from the leak.

BTW: flange/gasket joints suck. The one thing that HASN'T failed on my exhaust is the 2k muffler and the ball joint flanges I had custom installed.

Put the car on ramps/stands, start the car and get under there and find out where the leak/noise is.

Not that hard.

ericdwong

OK OK I guess nobody read my other post, I HAVE gotten under my car and listened for where the noise is coming from. I even went as far as tying a rope around the throttle body, getting under the car, and then revving the motor by tugging to hear where the sounds were coming from and if there were any leaks. There was no leak, and the sound is definately coming from within the muffler. I understand most of you probably think "ok, so replace the muffler", but this has been tested by other members with a similar problem with a similar setup by swapping out mufflers (Louie has done this- SLC I30T). It also started when the Y pipe was put back on.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

I'll listen to the clip later if I can. But Eric, you and a few other guys do this. Start multiple threads on related topics. I KNOW you don't expect everyone to keep up w/ all your threads do you??

Aftermarket Y pipes are ALOT thinner than the stock oem one. And that bad design also probably cancels out alot of the sound also. But I don't know if just those things could attribute to that bad of a sound(as others have noted).

Did you run your and over all the joints to verify no leaks? Or was it just a visal inpsection? Wife's accord had a leak and the hole was on TOP of the pipe! wth? hehe.

ericdwong

This time from within the car. I was gonna attach the mic to my trailer hitch so I could hear what is going on outside the car but I took the hitch off months ago. So for a quick and dirty deed I stuffed the mic in the trunk and used a minidisc player to record. I could have probably done a better job recording but I was lazy. This time I did some sound processing since it was very rumbly and normalized (maximized the volume) on the signal. There is alot of road noise probably because all my windows and sunroof was down and the rear seat was also out. On the 2nd track it sounds like the mic shifted and nailed something, I tried to edit out the waveform to tame the "thump" but thats what you're hearing, not my car falling apart (yet). Once again you can hear the tinny exhaust noise. Its not as bad as it was yesterday but it still sounds like crap.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ewong61/max/exhaust1.mp3
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ewong61/max/exhaust2.mp3

Dave B

Resonated exhaust tip. Go to the auto store, spend $20 and try it out. My exhaust tip changed the whole sound of my exhaust. I'm not exagerating.

When searching for an exhaust leak, make sure the exhaust is cold, start the engine, and place your hand very close to the flanges and feel for the pulsating heated air. Cold exhausts leak worse than warm exhausts, they don't burn you either.


Dave

WizzaMax

iTrader: (9)

Exhaust tip...probably not...even resonated tips don't make tha much of a difference.

Bad baffle...not likely either ...loose baffles will make an normally sedate car sound rumbly more like what we try for but not tinny.

Loose bolts on y-pipe and old worn out crush gaskets may be a factor unless you checked all these verl closely.

you have what is seemingly considered over-run resonance...you are losing the systems abiltiy to retain the exhaust energy somewhere...hangers dont matter, tips dont matter, and unless you have something actually lose inside your muffler (unbolt it and shake it around) there sounds as if no velocity pressing thru the system.

maybe it will help.

ny96max

sounds really bad, not the quality, but the actual exhaust!

Ant